EUGENE -- Shane Lemieux walked out of Oregon's football headquarters on a blue-sky Friday afternoon carrying a stack of textbooks.

It was the final day of finals week for UO's fall academic quarter, and Lemieux was smiling. Not only because his exams are over, but because his football team on Friday found the answer to its own test -- who will be UO's head coach.

The Ducks announced Mario Cristobal as their head coach Friday, a promotion that earned rave reviews from the players who lobbied on his behalf on social media, and with a signed petition to keep Cristobal, all week.

"He loves us and we love him and we have a lot of respect for him," Lemieux said. "The last couple days we've all been kind of car salesman like, 'Man this guy is crazy! He's the best guy I've ever met!' Everything he does is great."

In between, more than 70 players signed a petition to promote Cristobal, UO's co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach who joined the staff 11 months ago, from his interim head coaching role for the Dec. 16 Las Vegas Bowl.

"I feel like this is a really big accomplishment for everyone, that's why everyone was so excited," Lemieux said. "Whereas the last coaching hire with Taggart, it was kind of an administration decision rather than a player decision. So we had a big say in this I feel like. Even though he didn't really say it I'm sure we had some say."

Cristobal was introduced to the team during a 1:30 p.m. meeting Friday in the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex that safety Brady Breeze likened to a "a huge party."

"Everyone was stoked for him," said Breeze, who is going on a third coach in as many seasons at UO, "and just a huge sigh of relief for everyone on the team."

UO will hold a formal press conference to welcome Cristobal at 4 p.m. -- one year to the day after Taggart was introduced at UO.

Cristobal is 27-47 as a head coach, after six seasons (2007-12) at Florida International. The Panthers were one of college football's youngest and resource-depleted programs when Cristobal took over before going to bowl games in his fourth and fifth seasons. He earned a five-year extension in 2012 after turning down an offer from Rutgers, but was fired at the end of the season.

Cristobal's promotion marks the fourth time since 1995 that Oregon has promoted its offensive coordinator to the top job.

"We're definitely stoked to have a guy in-house, and be able to keep almost all of the coaches," Breeze said. The Ducks are reportedly likely to keep cornerbacks coach Charles Clark, safeties coach Keith Heyward, quarterbacks coach and co-OC Marcus Arroyo and defensive line coach Joe Salave'a.

Several recruits told The Oregonian/OregonLive that they believe it is unlikely defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt remains after being passed over. Leavitt, who previously led South Florida from 1995-2009, has openly stated his goal to be a head coach again.

A first-generation Cuban American -- Cristobal's parents both left Cuba in the early years of Fidel Castro's regime -- Cristobal came to Oregon from Alabama, where he was an assistant head coach under Nick Saban.

His calling card is a self-described "maniacal approach to your craft" that translated to what players called more physical offensive line play in 2017. He also has been named the country's top recruiter twice in his career and accordingly built relationships with players across the ball in his first season at UO, which paid dividends this week in the outpouring of support from players.

In his opening remarks to players Friday, he said their top goal should be to earn a degree.

"He's separated himself from other coaches and really grew to the players," receiver Dillon Mitchell said. "Everybody's been behind him because he's an excellent coach and he's a players' guy. The reaction was great. Everybody cheered for him and congratulated him.

"... He said that he was here for us and he understands what we're going through but we're not going to stop and we're going to keep pushing forward."